Discovering ants in your kitchen can be annoying, disgusting and frustrating. These insects can get into almost anything and take over your kitchen.

There are many home remedies to get rid of kitchen ants. Most methods involve putting essential oils or other household cleaners where you have seen ants to kill and repel them. Once the ants are gone, you can take steps, like eliminating food sources and blocking entrances, to prevent kitchen ants from returning.

It is possible to get rid of kitchen ants using home remedies. Study this article to learn more about methods for getting rid of kitchen ants on your own.

You might also be interested in reading these two related articles “How To Tell The Difference Between Flying Ants and Termites” and “How To Get Rid Of Carpenter Ants“.

How To Get Rid Of Ants In The Kitchen Home Remedies

Some of the best ways to kill and repel ants use simple ingredients you might already have in your cupboard, including:

1. Diatomaceous Earth (DE)

Diatomaceous Earth is a white powder made from fossilized plankton called diatoms. It is often used to treat flea infestations and it kills ants also. You might find food-grade DE at a pet store or online.

This non-toxic remedy absorbs fats and oils from the ant’s exoskeleton. DE has sharp edges that cut up the ant’s outer layer, then the desiccating nature of DE sucks out all of its moisture. 

To kill ants in your kitchen, sprinkle the areas you see ants with a hardy layer of DE. Leave the powder in place for a few days until you stop seeing ants. DE could irritate your skin or lungs, so wear personal protective equipment when you apply and clean it up.

2. Liquid Dish Soap and Glass Cleaner

A dish soap and glass cleaner solution eliminates the scented pheromone trail ants leave behind themselves as a map for the rest of their colony. The steps to use this method are:

1. Add dish soap and glass cleaner to a spray bottle and shake them up.
2. Spray the solution everywhere you have seen ants in your kitchen.
3. Wipe down the area with a dry cloth, but don’t wash off the solution so that it covers up any pheromones.
4. You may need to repeat the first three steps until the ants stop coming back.

Note: Never mix bleach and glass cleaner because it creates toxic fumes.

3. Ground Cayenne or black pepper

Ants and other insects are irritated by the scent of cayenne and black pepper. Simply sprinkle some pepper in the areas you have seen ants, especially where you have witnessed them entering your home. 

4. Peppermint Essential Oil

The peppermint plant repels insects, including ants and mosquitos. The steps to use peppermint essential oil to get rid of ants in your kitchen are:

1. Add 10 to 20 drops of peppermint essential oil to two cups of water in a spray bottle and mix them.
2. Spray your peppermint solution everywhere that you have seen ants in your kitchen.
3. Reapply your solution every few hours until the ants stop showing up in your kitchen.

You can buy peppermint essential oil at a grocery store or apothecary shop. Keep peppermint oil away from pets, especially cats, because they can have a bad reaction if exposed. 

5. Lemon Eucalyptus Oil Cotton Balls

Lemon eucalyptus tree leaves contain citronella. This natural chemical is the same one that gives mosquito candles their distinctive odor, and ants don’t like it either. You can find lemon eucalyptus oil at a health food store or online.

To use lemon eucalyptus oil to get rid of ants:

1. Soak cotton balls with the pure lemon eucalyptus essential oil.
2. Put the cotton balls near ant trails or where they are entering your kitchen.
3. Replace the cotton balls with freshly soaked ones each week.

Note: Lemon eucalyptus oil should be kept away from children and pets.

6. Tea Tree Oil 

Tea tree oil comes from the leaves of a tree native to Australia. Confusingly, it’s unrelated to the plant that is brewed into black or green tea. Tea tree oil has many uses, including as an ant repellant.

To use tea tree oil to get rid of kitchen ants: 

• Mix 10 drops of tea tree oil with two cups of water in a spray bottle and spray it around the kitchen.
• Alternatively, soak cotton balls with pure tea tree oil and leave them where you have seen ant trails. Put out fresh cotton balls each week to keep ants away.

Tea tree oil is widely available in grocery stores and health food stores. Keep it away from children and pets.

Note: Tea tree oil has a strong scent that some people don’t like. You can make it less smelly by replacing half of the tea tree oil with peppermint oil.

7. Eucalyptus Citriodora Oil / Oil of Lemon Eucalyptus (OLE)

OLE comes from the Corymbia citriodora tree and contains a chemical called Menthane-3,8diol (PMD). PMD is classified as a safe biopesticide by the EPA. 

You can find OLE products marketed as mosquito repellants at camping stores. Spray the OLE product where you have seen ants, and reapply it each day until they leave. Be sure to follow all of the safety instructions on the OLE bottle.

8. White Vinegar

You probably already have some white vinegar in your home, or you can find it cheaply at any grocery store. Use a mixture of half vinegar and half water to clean hard surfaces where you have seen ants in your kitchen.

You can pour or spray vinegar directly onto ants and the acidity can kill them. The smell of vinegar lasts longer for ants than for us and will keep them away for several hours. You need to apply vinegar each day until the ants stop coming back to your kitchen.

9. Boiling Water

If you can find ant nests near your home, pour boiling water into them. Ant nests might look like holes in the ground or small hills with holes at the top. You can follow ant trails from your kitchen to find the nest.

Ant nests can be large, and you may not kill all the ants with one pot of water. Keep pouring more boiling water until no more ants emerge from the nest. Moreover, there could be multiple ant hills, and you need to do the same treatment to each one.

10. Cornstarch Trap

Instead of killing ants, cornstarch traps them. To make a cornstarch trap, sprinkle a hearty amount over a group of ants, then add water. Soon, the cornstarch hardens into a paste and the ants will get stuck.

Next, you need to sweep the cornstarch and ants into a container to take them outside. You could kill the ants or set them free far away from your house. 

11. Cinnamon Leaf Essential oil

Compounds in cinnamon leaf essential oil kill and repel ants in your kitchen. To use this method of getting rid of ants in your kitchen:

1. Soak cotton balls in the pure cinnamon leaf essential oil.
2. Place the soaked cotton balls near ant trails and places you have seen ants.
3.  Re-soak the cotton balls every five days because the essential oil loses potency.

12. How To Use Neem Oil To Get Rid Of Ants

Neem is an extremely effective natural insecticide. Furthermore, several commercial pest removal products feature neem oil as an ingredient. Neem oil is safe to use indoors and doesn’t harm plants or pets.

Spray undiluted neem oil onto ants to kill them. Additionally, you can also use neem oil to kill aphids, a major food source for ants. 

13. Coffee Grounds To Repel Ants

You can use the used grounds from your morning cup of coffee to keep ants out of your kitchen. Place wet coffee grounds on paper plates, napkins or another disposable surface near ant trails or where ants congregate. 

Ants are sensitive to caffeine. They will carry the coffee grounds back to their nest and eat them, but they will become confused afterward and lose their scent trails. This method may take a few weeks to work, so leave coffee grounds out every day until the ants go away.

14. Sugar Boric Acid Bait

Boric acid is a natural compound used for many human activities, including as an insecticide. It is only poisonous if taken internally or inhaled in large doses. Subsequently, you can create a mixture of boric acid and sugar to kill ants in your kitchen. 

Use personal protective equipment when handling boric acid. The University of Hawaii Master Gardener Program has an excellent description for making boric acid bait for ants. The simplified version is:

The boric acid will kill the ants, but it could take up to a month for them to completely disappear. It’s important to not disturb the ants so that they will have a chance to eat the bait. Finally, keep boric acid away from food, children and pets.

15. Borax (Sodium Tetraborate)

Borax is a common household cleaner used in laundry detergents. Moreover, it’s not the same as boric acid and has lower toxicity. 

Similarly, you can create a borax bait that kills ants in your kitchen. To create a borax bait:

1. Mix 2 tablespoons of borax with 4 tablespoons of peanut butter.
2. Leave small globs of peanut butter where you have seen ants.
3. Keep putting out fresh bait until the ants go away.

This ant bait won’t work if you have pets that will eat the peanut butter. If peanut butter doesn’t attract ants, mix the borax with sugar water, like in the previous recipe for boric acid bait. Above all, keep borax out of reach of children and wear personal protective equipment when you handle it. 

16. Lemon Juice Cleaners

Lemon juice work in the same vein as vinegar does to eliminate the pheromone trails that guide ants into your home. Similarly apply lemon juice to a rag and wipe the surfaces where you have seen ants in your kitchen. Lemon scent repels ants, and placing lemon rinds near ant trails could also keep them away.

How To Prevent Ants Home Remedies

Your kitchen can be an excellent food source for an ant colony. There are a few steps you can take to prevent ants from entering your kitchen.

Clean Kitchen Surfaces and Floors Each Day

Dirt and dust make ants feel more at home in your kitchen, so getting rid of those lowers the chances ants will come in. Likewise, crumbs or any food residue are magnets for ants, so it’s critical to get those cleaned up too.

Wash Dishes Immediately After Use

If ants get a whiff of your dirty dishes, it could entice them to enter your kitchen. Be sure to clean all of your dishes soon after using them to keep ants from discovering a food source.

Clean Pet Bowls Regularly

Pet food tastes good to ants too, and they are happy to eat crumbs or food that your pet doesn’t. Even residue on the outside of pet bowls could attract ants, so you need to keep them clean to stop them.

Store Food In Sealed Containers 

Ants have a way of getting into any food that isn’t sealed tight. Never leave open containers of food because it only takes a few hours for ants to swarm your kitchen after they find a snack.

Check To See If Your Your Houseplants Have Ants

Ants could be making a home in your houseplants. Therefore, check each of your houseplants to see if ants congregate there. If you find an infested houseplant, throw it away or take it outside far away from your house.

You can eliminate the ants by changing the houseplant’s soil. Be sure to shake off all the soil from the roots and check to ensure no ants hang on. Finally, wash the pot well to kill any ant eggs and put new dirt in with your plant. 

You can discourage ants from living in your plants by placing citrus rinds or another natural repellant on the soil surface. Monitor your houseplants to be sure ants don’t attack.

Keep The Outdoors Outside Your Home

Ants could have an easier time getting into your kitchen if your yard is messy. Trim shrubs and vines so they don’t touch your home. Don’t let leaves or dirt enter your home from shoes or the wind. 

Seal Your Home To Block Ant Entrances

If you can find where ants enter your home, you can block their routes. Some places you can check for ant entrances are:

• Under your door needs to have a functional door sweep.
• Screens on windows and doors can’t be damaged.
• Fill cracks in your home’s exterior or where pipes and wires enter your home using expanding foam.
• Weatherstripping on doors and windows needs to be working.

Dry Up Water Sources

Do an inspection around your house and make sure there are no leaky pipes or standing water. Have leaky pipes fixed and find a way to improve drainage so rain doesn’t collect near your home. Consequently, this is good for your home’s structural integrity and prevents ants.

If Home Remedies Fail…

Sometimes no matter how much effort you put in, ants keep coming back into your kitchen. After you try to get rid of kitchen ants naturally, you can turn to pesticides or to professional pest experts.

Commercial Bait Traps

Bait traps contain pesticides in an enclosed box. Therefore, you might prefer this form of ant elimination to sprays. 

With bait traps, ants are attracted to the bait and go inside the box to eat. Afterward, the ants return to their nest carrying poison that kills the rest of the colony.

Commercial bait traps may contain boric acid, borax or hydramethylnon, a dangerous pesticide. Whichever bait trap your choose, keep them away from children pets and vegetable gardens.

Commercial Ant Repellents

Several non-toxic ant repellant sprays are available at home improvement or grocery stores. Follow all the safety instructions when using these products.

Pest Control Professionals

When all else fails, or you just don’t want to put in the effort to get rid of kitchen ants, hiring an exterminator is a great option. They will inspect your home and find the best way to get rid of ants and prevent them from coming back. If you worry about the chemicals they use, you can ask them to explain their methods and if there are risks.